“Iron Man 3”
Directed by Shane Black
Starring Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Guy Pearce, Don Cheadle, Rebecca Hall and Ben Kingsley
Superhero/Adventure/Sci-Fi
130 Mins
PG-13

With Iron Man 3, the Marvel brand has tried something new and shown that they have some tricks up their sleeves after all. Up until now, every Marvel film has been an origin of sorts – Iron Man, Thor and Captain America all fleshed out the roots of individuals who were soon-to-be involved in a superhero collective and even Iron Man 2 served as more as an introduction to The Avengers than a story functioning aptly on its own. Iron Man 3, however, tells a most self-contained story that’s got more pithy humor, high gloss action, unexpected twists and its fair share of jarring narrative jumpiness.

The beginning of this tale finds Tony Stark offering up a confessional of sorts. He’s reconciling with his demons in the aftermath of the New York incident where he nearly died on the other side of a wormhole in a galaxy far, far away. This healing process is proving harder than he may have first assumed. Killing terrorists and blasting baddies may be one thing but a panic attack is something else entirely and seems more alien to Stark than…aliens. Flirting with death is heavy stuff, no doubt, but it’s hard to wallow too much in the mire when there’s yet another madman at large with a penchant for blowing people up, especially when they set their sights on you.

The Iron Man franchise feels as topical now as it did in 2008 as the continuing themes of terrorism are lasting landmarks in our global society. Although the bombings that take place in this film seem to be serendipitously ill-timed in the wake of the recent Boston attacks, the coincidence is no more than just that. The resulting cultural impact is questionable though as the Marvel Universe is a very sterilized world lacking blood or bodies, the real consequence of war and terrorism. I can’t really gripe about the watering down of any political or cultural significance because, well, this is a wide-netted PG-13 Marvel flick. While I would love to see a hard-R version that really disembowels the messy themes of terrorism and vigilante justice, I guess we will all have to settle with the popcorn action that we get.

Continuing to play a role that he seems born to play, Robert Downey Jr. is as suitable as ever playing the motormouth Tony Stark and his quips come fast and loose. Even more than before, Iron Man 3 aims for comedy and delivers well-tempered laugh-out-loud moments as well as the smirking, sardonic wit we have come to expect from Mr. Stark. The Marvel universe has seemed to carve out its own niche little brand of humor that, however broad in appeal, feels quite genuine to the world that they have created. There’s a little moment when an unnamed henchman surrenders to Stark and makes a little comment about how he doesn’t even like his employers. It got quite a rise out of me and it’s snappy and odd humor like this that defines the levity of the franchise.

Even while upping the laughter ante, the film feels more grounded and psychologically taxing. While its predecessor, Iron Man 2, attempted to show Tony Stark battling with the weight of his new found persona, it’s in this installment that anything has any clout. No holds bar, this third installment is head and shoulders superior to Iron Man 2. Whereas that film attempted to skate by on Downey’s easy charisma and extensive suggestibility towards the larger Marvel universe, this film is happy to strip things down to barebones and start fresh.

Similarly to Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, Iron Man 3 takes jabs at our utter dependence on faltering technology. Instead of all the high-tech, mecha-as-God gloss, we see the more unvarnished side of the equation where suits malfunction and break down, GPS fails and people are bonking their heads left and right. It’s a craft little side arc that serves as a parallel to Stark’s perception that he and his suit are inseparable entities as well as some social commentary on our ever-increasing dependence on anything battery-powered. Like Stark, the more reliant we are on tech, the more we lose our ability to stand on our own two feet.

Fleshing out the ensemble are all the series regulars performing more than sufficiently. Gwyneth Paltrow returns as Pepper Potts and has really been given a great opportunity to round out her character throughout the series. From her meek roots in the first installment to her almost super-hero personality at the end of the franchise, Potts is an interesting female character who has run the gamut on female character tropes. She’s been the mild assistant, the secret crush, the self-empowered businesswoman, the concerned lover, the savvy partner and finally the commanding power-top. Of all the characters in the series, she has evolved the most and finds the most interesting beats in this installment.

Don Cheadle fills out the suit of the Iron Patriot, the military-officer-formerly-known as War Machine. After a little re-branding, Colonel James Rhodes has doubled down his efforts as a US piece of military might/war deterrent and his once rocky relationship with Tony Stark is now fixed up back to buddy-buddy status. One of the biggest bonuses for this film was seeing the actors actually getting to do some of the action sans the suits. Seeing Cheadle rock it bare bones and fire off his pistol Lethal Weapon-style left me with the impression that the powers that be may just have a natural successor on our hands for Downey once he abandons his post as Iron Man.

Now, I’m still kind of making up my mind about the whole villain part of the equation. First off, Guy Pearce is unfortunately underplayed in the marketing. His character was slimy, power-hungry and just a force to be reckoned with. Pearce easily has one of the most impressive resumes of the actors here and yet seems to go largely ignored. The guy seems to be a good luck charm for Oscar films having worked on The Hurt Locker and The King’s Speech, two films that won Best Picture in a three year span, so it’s always odd to me when someone like this slips under the radar.

It’s like all the cool kids had a pool party and he didn’t quite make the cut even though he’s clearly the under-championed coolest of them all. Personally, I had no idea how significant his role would be and I’m all the more grateful that a talent as strong as Pearce could head up the villainy department. It’s nothing of the Heath Ledger Joker caliber but it’s far better than the immeasurable cannon of superhero baddies.

As far as Ben Kingsley goes, Marvel and Co obviously played his role in the series rather close to the chest so I’d rather not discuss him at length other to say that his performance came as quite a jarring surprise. However unexpected, it’s little bits like this that show that Kevin Feige et al really understand the media stratosphere that they are functioning within and are able to manipulate it to their advantage and the advantage of their audiences. And finally, a quick note on Rebecca Hall: throwaway character.

Where the other Iron Man movies have depended on climaxes that pit metal-on-metal, the action here is far superior. Instead of the tired and inconsequential pounding of iron suits, the fiery Extremis enemies offer some variety both from a visual and blocking standpoint. Director Shane Black handles the action sequences in a cool and casual way, fishing for the feeling of 90’s action buddy comedies and has caught it hook, line, and sinker even with all the iron suits and a legion of CGI wizards standing behind him. Although the spectacle doesn’t quite match the awing wow of The Avengers, it is just as much fun and even more impressive considering it’s more limited budget.

Now that all is said and done, the question that remains is will we see Iron Man again? Surely. And while it’s easy to stick holes in the lack of the rest of the Marvel characters here, this is a more intimate and personal story. If anything, this is more Tony Stark’s tale than Iron Man’s. Big set events included, Stark is out of the suit for the majority of the action sequences and this gives the action more of a sense of consequence than it had before. Even though the participation of the Avengers would surely have eased the situation a bit, there was not necessarily a need for the whole crew of supers.

There is a necessary amount of forgiveness involved in the Marvel Movie Universe but if you’re willing to engage and let this world full of superheroes and supervillians continue to grow and spread it’s roots, then this is a worthwhile stepping stone along the long and winding road. However inconsequentially the end result is, Iron Man 3 is buttery blockbuster fare hitting all the right notes.